Unexpected Benefits to Shifting Your Mindset About Time

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Embracing long-term thinking can transform your career and business.運用長期思維可改變你的職業和事業。

It’s human nature to want fast results.Couple that with the constant barrage of social media ()and navigating a global pandemic,and most of us haven’t exactly been in the mood to cultivate our long-term thinking.

追求速成是人的天性。再加上社交媒體持續不斷的狂轟濫炸（更多！更快！現在！）以及要應對全球疫情，我們大多數人根本沒有心情去培養長期思維。

2 But for the past several years,that’s exactly what I’ve been researching,because resetting the way we think about time,and consciously embracing longterm thinking,can transform our businesses and careers in surprising ways.

2 但在過去幾年里，這正是我一直在研究的課題，因為換種方式看待時間，并有意識地采用長期思維，能讓我們的職業和事業發生驚人的改變。

3 In my new book,I share three unexpected reasons long-term thinking can be so powerful.Here’s how to leverage their value in your own life:

3 在我的新書《長期游戲：如何在短效世界成為長期思維者》中，我分享了長期思維何以如此強大的三個意想不到的原因。下文將介紹如何在生活中發揮它們的價值。

Long-term thinking gives you courage

長期思維給人勇氣

4 Plenty of well-known companies have stumbled on social issues in recent years,from climate change to race to marriage equality.But as my friend,branding expert Martin Lindstrom notes,“Through my career,I’ve come to know hundreds of CEOs,and not one of them—I mean,zero—has ever disagreed with the concept of equality.”These leaders’ flat-footedresponses are due to the fear of short-term consequences,whether it’s taking a hit to their share price or their annual bonus.

4 近年來，許多知名企業在氣候變化、種族、婚姻平等等社會問題上栽了跟頭。但正如我的朋友、品牌推廣專家馬丁·林德斯特倫所指出的，“在職業生涯中，我結識了數百名首席執行官，其中沒有人——我是說一個也沒有——不認同平等的觀念。”這些領導人手足無措的回應是出于對短期后果的擔憂，無論這后果是股價受挫還是年終獎受影響。

5 Re-orienting your point of view to the long-term ()enables you to resist pressure in the moment and make the right decisions based on values and ethics,not immediate gain or loss.

5 將視角調遠（20年后，我會為自己的行為感到驕傲嗎？）可使人抵抗當前壓力，并基于價值觀念和道德規范而非眼前得失做出正確決策。

A longer time frame lets you accomplish more meaningful goals

更長的時間范圍有助于完成更有意義的目標

6 My friend Jonathan Brill,an innovation expert who’s the author of the book,identifies one of the worst hidden risks for companies:“You hire smart people who know how to win,” he says,“and you tell them to win at the wrong thing.” If the incentives are focused on short-term revenue gains,that’s where all the attention goes—and as Jonathan says,“The result of that is that you can lose by winning.”

6 我的朋友喬納森·布里爾是一位創新專家，著有《瘋狗浪》。他指出了企業最嚴重的潛在風險之一。“你雇用了知道如何去贏的聰明人，”他說，“而你讓他們在錯誤的事情上去贏?！比绻顧C制關注的是短期回報，所有注意力都集中于此，那么，如喬納森所說，“其結果就是，你可能因贏而輸?！?/p>

7 Instead of focusing on transformative projects that can reshape your industry or revitalize your company,these very smart people focus on what’s known as “feature innovation”: small,somewhat meaningless changes like what color a button should be.The benefits (if any)are small,marginal,and ephemeral.

7 這些非常聰明的人沒有關注那些可以重塑產業或重振公司的變革性項目，卻專注于所謂的“特色創新”：微小而無甚意義的改變，比如某個按鈕該用什么顏色。這種改變的好處即使有，也是微乎其微，曇花一現。

8 The problem—and the reason so many companies,and leaders,are averse to taking on substantive projects—is that they simply take longer to ramp up.“It takes typically five or six years for a product or a business to get to scale,”says Jonathan.Even if the benefits would be substantial once the product or service is established,a lot of companies just don’t want to wait that long.“What you’re looking for is profit,”he says,“That happens on the decade scale.That doesn’t happen on the quarterly scale.”

8 問題在于——以及這么多企業和領導人不愿承擔實質性項目的原因在于——這類項目需要更長時間才會有起色?！耙患a品或一項業務通常需要五六年才能形成規模。”喬納森表示。即使當產品或業務建立起來時利潤相當可觀，許多公司也不愿等那么久?！澳阕非蟮氖抢麧??！彼f，“利潤產生要以十年為尺度。十年時間會有利潤產生，一個季度不會有?！?/p>

9 So if you buck the trendand embrace a long-term perspective,and if you’re willing to wait out those early days of getting established,you can enshrine a long-term competitive advantage (and their concomitantprofits),because very few of your competitors will even make the attempt.

9 所以，如果你逆勢而為，放遠眼光，并且愿意等到創業初期結束，你就能獲得長期競爭優勢（以及相應的利潤），因為極少有競爭者會做此嘗試。

10 As Jeff Bezos observed,“If everything you do needs to work on a threeyear time horizon,then you’re competing against a lot of people.But if you’re willing to invest on a seven-year time horizon,you’re now competing against a fraction of those people,because very few companies are willing to do that.Just by lengthening the time horizon,you can engage in endeavors that you could never otherwise pursue.”

10 正如杰夫·貝索斯所說，“如果你做每件事都以三年為期，那么你的競爭對手就會有很多；但如果你愿意以七年為期，你的競爭對手就只有其中的一小部分，因為極少有公司愿意這么做。僅僅通過拉長時間期限，你就可以致力于原本不可能做的事情?！?/p>

Long-term thinking helps you not be so hard on yourself

長期思維使人不苛求自己

11 Almost everyone began the pandemic with lofty goals,from learning Italian to mastering sourdough to finishing that novel.(I took on the challenge of latte art.)And plenty of us failed.It’s like vowing to read 10 reports on a crosscountry flight,and discovering upon landing that all you’ve done is nap.It’s frustrating,but also: You needed a nap.

11 幾乎每個人在疫情隔離期開始時都抱有雄心壯志，立下的目標從學習意大利語到學做發面面包，再到讀完那部小說，不一而足。（我立志攻克咖啡拉花藝術。）但我們中的很多人都以失敗告終。這好比信誓旦旦地要在跨國航班上閱讀十份報告，而飛機落地時卻發現自己除了打盹什么都沒做。這很令人沮喪，但也說明：你確實需要小睡一下。

12 With ever-changing responsibilities(figuring out work from home “office politics,” caregiving,homeschooling,etc.),not to mention overall stress levels refelcting the fact that we were in a global pandemic,many of us didn’t quite accomplish as much as we wanted to,or as much as we likely would have during a different 18-month period.And it’s okay.

12 由于不斷變化的職責（領略居家辦公的“職場政治”、照料家人、家中教學等等），更別提在全球疫情中掙扎所帶來的全部壓力，我們中的許多人未能如愿達成目標，如果這18 個月沒有疫情，我們可能做得更好。但那沒關系。

13 It’s just not helpful to beat ourselves upabout what did,or didn’t,get done during COVID.The point is,you got through it.As I describe in,you have to think in waves:There are times to over indexon certain aspects of our lives (you probably want to spend more time focused on work when you start a new job,for instance)and certain times when you might need to refocus (you’ll likely pull back on discretionary professional development or networking activities if you’re caring for a sick relative).

13 因在疫情期間做了或沒做什么事而自責完全沒有幫助。重要的是，你挺過來了。正如我在《長期游戲》一書中所述，你必須采用波段式思考模式：有時候我們需要就生活的某些方面多花精力（比如，當你開始一項新工作時，你或許應該花更多時間在工作上）；而有些時候，你可能需要轉變重心（如果有生病的親人要照顧，你可能要暫停自由職業發展或社交活動）。

14 There are seasons,and we have to respect them.And with a long-term mindset,you don’t have to curse the“wasted” 18 months,but instead,you recognize: There’s plenty of time to shift your focus back to work,or whatever your key projects are,in the future.Rebalancing your portfolio is all part of long-term thinking.

14 凡事皆有定期，我們需予以尊重。有了長期思維，你就不必抱怨“浪費掉的”18 個月，而會認識到：接下來，你有充足時間將注意力轉回到工作，或你的任何重要項目上來。重新平衡各事項就是長期思維的一部分。

15 Long-term thinking isn’t just “nice to have.” When we embrace it,it’s a step toward becoming the kind of people we want to be.■

15 長期思維不僅僅是“可有可無，有則更好”的東西。擁有這種思維，我們就向理想的自己邁近了一步。 □